Assembling machines for joining pieces of veneer are known, one example of such a machine being found in Swiss Pat. No. 425,182. In that patent, pieces of veneer are fed into a machine, the pieces extending transversly to the direction of transportation. The pieces are assembled and glued together in the machine one after the other into a continuous ribbon of veneer. With such machines, it is not possible to produce plywood boards which are visibly assembled prior to gluing together. In other words, it is not possible to observe the pieces of veneer as they are initially placed into the relationship which they will occupy in the final product, and it is therefore not possible to form a board or ribbon of material which has a surface corresponding to a desired decoration.
A manually operated arrangement is shown in German Pat. No. 948,916, wherein it is possible to observe the pieces of material as they are placed into position for a subsequent gluing together, but the manual operation disclosed therein is not suitable or profitable for an industrial manufacturing process.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,526,342, there is shown an apparatus by which wooden strips or boards can be visually assembled into a desired relationship and assembled mechanically by pressing together the lateral edges which have been previously wetted with glue to form boards. With this arrangement, however, it is not possible to assemble thin work pieces or pieces or veneer into boards by gluing them under pressure. In that patent, the sides of the wooden strips which are to glued together must be disposed longitudinally with respect to the direction of passage and it is therefore not possible to also and simultaneously put several boards together into an elongated ribbon of material.